I have not checked out of any room in the US, Canada or Europe that is a chain hotel for at least 15 years. Probably 20+
This year I have had eleven stays at Hilton, four at Marriott and one at an IHG property. I’ve had at least a couple at non chain hotels. I check out at the “boutique” hotels and get a printed folio, though the last two in the UK emailed it to me while I stood there instead.
I will drop my keycard into a secured box when leaving, but not into just a plastic bin.
Once in a while the clerk will ask if I am checking out while I’m walking out with my bags. I will breezily call out my room number and keep going.
My wife used to insist that we check out and review the folio. She gave up that habit many years ago.
Even then I think it helps to let them know you are really out so they don’t have to guess. Because unless it’s a work day or I have to be somewhere, I’m one of those people who is usually running a few minutes behind.
In my experience, they don’t usually care if it’s no more than 15 minutes or so. Especially if it’s clear that you are actively working on getting out (i.e. carrying bags out and/or packing up the luggage cart).
In any event, I always check out at the desk to make sure there are no surprise extra charges. It is much harder to fight these once you’ve left.
Some hotels advertise the French exit as a “perk,” same with checking in on the app and using a digital key so you never have to subject yourself to talking to a wage-earner. I guess.
My default is to leave the keys in the room (most housekeeping carts have a little box for old keys) and then I just leave, unless it’s a business trip and then I’ll get a physical receipt as a safety measure.
I never really considered the housekeeping angle, I figure they clean the rooms pretty much sequentially anyway and they have a 4 hour window to do it. But I can see the argument.
When I’ve stayed in some all-inclusive resorts, they’ve been insistent on “you don’t leave without showing security an exit ticket which you get when you check out”, but I suppose that is because that is the kind of place where you are likely to have bill to settle (and maybe local laws/security procedures).
I’ve stayed in a couple of small unstaffed hotels if that is what you mean. You get emailed a combination (or two) either to unlock the door(s) directly or to give you access to a small lock-box containing the key along with your room number. In the case of the later you are asked to return the key to the lock-box when you leave.
I usually just leave. Whether I tell the front desk depends on whether I happen to be walking by them when I leave. If I pack up through a side or back door, then I’ll typically just drive away. If I’m leaving really early, I might swing by the desk to tell them I’m gone so that they can start on the room if they want. I used to always go through the check out process, but I had a bad experience one time which soured me on it. They let me check out, but they didn’t let me leave. It was a huge hassle. Let me tell you, that hotel is definitely not getting my business the next time I’m visiting California.
This was like that but even weirder. The hotel is small: 13 rooms total. It has a bar and restaurant downstairs. When we ‘checked in’, we went into the bar and said we wanted to check in. The bartender confirmed our identity, then told us which room we were in and the keys would be in the door. When we left, we dropped the keys in a mailbox on the wall at the bottom of the stairs, but even at 10am on a Monday, there was nobody else in the building. The bar/restaurant is only open Wed-Sun, so Monday and Tuesday the guests are on their own.
At some point one of the conventions I used to go to began making arrangements with the hotel to have custom keycards printed for the members, with artwork related to that year’s theme. Some years they even had several different designs. So in that case they were collectible souvenirs.
I have seen those custom keycard printers. It would be no problem (modulo getting the design agreed and rendered) for a hotel to have one and offer bespoke art for events.
It would never occur to me not to. My assumption would be that they’d charge me if I didn’t check out by the time you have to leave to not be charged for another day (which usually was 10:30am). Yes, even if they later figured out the room was vacant.
I guess if I saw a thing telling me I could return my key, I’d have assumed it counted as checking out, though I might also not have been comfortable taking chances.
Every hotel I have stayed at for the past several years has an app that I can use to check in and out, sometimes without even needing a key to begin with.
I think the courteous thing to do, then, is just leave. If I had to get a key because the app didn’t work or something, I just leave it in the room. I think hotel staff would much rather have the time to do… whatever else it is they would be doing if not servicing a customer who doesn’t actually need to be serviced. Moreover, even when I have forgotten to check out on the app… I have then checked the app to find I was automatically checked out.
To sum it up, I think leaving the key at the front desk and formally checking out is as best unnecessary, and at worst a distraction to hotel staff.
I’ll usually drop the key card at the desk on my way out and say “We’re out of 304” or whatever, without really slowing down unless they ask me something.
Same here, especially if there isn’t a line at the front desk. It usually takes them no longer than ten or 15 seconds to check me out, and as I don’t need a receipt, I’m then on my way.
You use the TV remote to walk through the checkout menu. Review your charges, ok the receipt (emailed), then press the Bye-bye button. Very easy and takes all of 2 minutes.
They’re usually running the hotel’s app and all of them are a little different but usually when you turn the TV on, you start on the hotel homepage and just use the arrows on the remote to “Checkout” or some such. They’re pretty intuitive. Much easier, IME, than figuring out a local channel guide.
